Bloomberg Radio On The Weekend April 28, 2012 - 1130 AM New York
Duration: 0:13:43

Bloomberg Radio Interview:

Phil Gries is the guest of Joe Franklin, and the discussion relates to the
preservation of the early days of television. In an era of digital recordings,
whether it is on you tube or your DVR, it seems unthinkable you can't go
back and re-watch anything, anytime. But, it hasn't always been that way.
So much of the early days of television no longer exists, having been erased
or destroyed.

Phil Gries, growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950's, and 60's, audio taped thousands
of hours off his family TV. Gries wired his reel to reel audio tape recorder to the
back of his 1949 16" Andrea television set. He captured kid's shows, variety shows,
news broadcasts, talk shows, and sports. His private daily mission in those days,
long before video recorders, was to preserve, as best he could, everything he could.
It turns out that thousands of his air checks represent the only known surviving TV
broadcasts in existence, since most of the live and video-taped television broadcasts
of the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's were erased, destroyed, or never recorded.